LFC chief executive Ian Ayre has admitted Liverpool have "major concerns" over the attitude of some Zenit St Petersburg supporters ahead of Thursday's Europa League clash in Russia.

And the Reds chief has written to UEFA and to Zenit about the controversial supporters manifesto published by a group of Zenit fans calling for ‘all non-European’ and ‘sexual minorities’ to be ‘barred from playing for the club.’

UEFA have replied to thank Liverpool for their observations, but Ayre added that he was still waiting for "some responses in that regard."

Zenit remain the only Russian club never to have signed an African player.

The manifesto, which Zenit manager Luciano Spalletti quickly distanced himself from, also contained a sinister sentence which declared that ‘black players are being imposed on Zenit almost by force’ and prompted then Zenit defender Christopher Samba to label Zenit fans ‘racist’.

Liverpool could take a number of black players with them to Russia on today’s flight.

And Ayre said in a lengthy interview on the club website: "It’s been a major concern for us, so I wrote to UEFA very recently expressing our concerns to them – and also to Zenit.

"We await some responses in that regard. The most we can do is make our feelings clear ahead of the game and hope that we get an adequate response and adequate support on the night.

"That’s about the most we can do at this stage. I’m certainly hopeful that the right people will take the right action to ensure it's a game where we don't have that type of incident.

"We do plan to speak to the players about it. As with everything, the players have a lot to take on board around such a big game, so we're going to do that just ahead of the game.

"The most important thing for our players is that they remain professional throughout this.

"We certainly won't tolerate that type of attitude or any of those types of incidents from our team.

"So the important thing is that we let them know how we expect them to act if there is an incident.

"I'd much rather we take the incident off the pitch and we deal with it. Obviously the referee has a role to play within that.

Liverpool have had two incidents of their players being racially abused in recent years. Emile Heskey was targeted in Kiev in 2002, while Djibril Cisse was abused three years later in Sofia during a Champions League qualifier.

When Gerard Houllier took Liverpool to face Spartak Moscow in October 2002, he threatened to take his players off the pitch during the game if they were subjected to racist chanting, but it passed without incident.

If any Liverpool players are racially abused tomorrow, however, Ayre explained that the club would allow the authorities to deal with the issue.

"We'll take the right action," he added. "The referee would be at the forefront of that if there's something on the pitch. Anything that happens off the pitch, then we'll work very closely with the authorities.

"Those authorities will be UEFA, who are sanctioning and hosting the match, and Zenit and ourselves. I'll be there at the game and I'll ensure that we do whatever we need to do to protect anything that happens to any of our players. We'll ensure that happens."

Ayre also reassured Reds fans who are making the trip to Russia that they will be looked after.

"We'll ensure our fans are looked after, as we always do, for their safety," he said. "We'll issue some directives to our fans to ensure they understand the concerns and the things they should look out for.

"We just have to take it day-by-day as we arrive and as the game comes together. Writing, making our feelings known, ensuring the fans have the right information and ensuring that UEFA and Zenit are aware of our concerns – that's about as much as we can do ahead of a game."